Dineen searching for right combinations to unlock offense

After one goal in two losses in Canada, Panthers need to create chemistry and offense in a hurry

January 23, 2013|By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel

MONTREAL — On paper it all looked so simple.

Not only would Panthers coach Kevin Dineen be able to roll out arguably the most productive top line in the league from last season, but also a second unit chocked with red-light potential.

Unfortunately, hockey is played on ice, not paper. And three games (1-2) into this abbreviated grueling 48-game sprint, it's back to the dri-erase board for Dineen to find the right mix and fix a stagnant offense that has produced one goal in a pointless two-game Canadian swing while converting 1-of-11 power-play opportunites.

"That's the nature of this season, there's going to be some injuries that play into it, you got some decisions to make every day, but I think our players know how we like to play,'' Dineen said. "They like the group that we have as a core and they can interchange some pieces every now and then.

"The chemistry is something that you continue to work on and we've seen some flashes of it.''

Last season, the instant chemistry developed by Tomas 'Flash' Fleischmann, Kris Versteeg and Stephen Weiss led to 70 of the team's 197 goals. Their 108 combined points when playing together was the highest of any trio in the league according to Stats Inc.

However, Versteeg, who spent the lockout rehabbing his surgically repaired hip, has started the season on injured reserve after tweaking a lower-body part in the final practice of training camp last Friday. So the line's flow has been disrupted with a different right wing every game.

Fleischmann and Weiss have three assists and no goals between them.

"This is the NHL, everybody's a world-class player and it's easy to play with all these guys,'' Weiss said. "Steeger's a great hockey player and Flash and I miss him for sure, but life goes on and we got to make it work without him.''

Dineen said the second line of Mikael Samuelsson, Marcel Goc and Sean Bergenheim were his most productive group during the Panthers' playoff push. However, Samuelsson signed with Detroit, while Goc and Bergenheim sustained injuries while playing in Europe during the lockout. They're both suspended, with Goc expected back early next month.

In their place, Dineen assembled a skillful, eclectic mix of the young, old and formerly impaired with rookie phenom Jonathan Huberdeau, 19, aging superstar Alex Kovalev, 39, and Peter Mueller, 24, who's attempting to leave his concussion history behind.

All the newly formed trio did was combine for two goals and seven points in the opener, but by the second game they were split up while Dineen searched for a spark.

Mike Santorelli went from the waiver wire to top line to healthy scratch while continuing his sophomore-season slump. Scottie Upshall, coming off a two-goal, injury-decimated season, got the call in the second game after notching a power-play goal in the opener, but did little to keep the spot.

"I like that he came in and wanted to clean the slate,'' Dineen said of Upshall, whose had five seasons with 14 or more goals to earn a four-year $14 million deal. "It was not a good year for him, it was a frustrating year injury-wise and when he was healthy I don't think he played very well. He needed to make a statement with his game this year.

"He got off to a good start in game one, but what we're looking from Scottie is a level of consistency night after night, so that story has yet to be told.''

On Tuesday, versatile forward Tomas Kopecky was promoted from the third line to the top line after a six-shot outing in Monday's 4-0 loss to Ottawa, and he found the back of the net on for Florida's lone tally of the trip in a 4-1 loss to the Canadiens, the Eastern Conference's bottom-feeders last season.

"He's the one guy that started slow and has slowly moved in the right direction,'' Dineen said. "He's given energy every shift … but it looks like our conditioning's not where it needs to be.''

Another defenseman's down

In the tough-break category, rookie defenseman Michael Caruso broke his arm early in the first period of Tuesday's loss.

The Panthers have two extra defensemen, so Ed Jovanovski will return Thursday while Tyson Strachan is a potential scratch.